This IDC study presents IDC's updated 20062010 forecast for Western European mobile device shipments including standalone handhelds and converged devices. A review of performance in 1H06 is presented, including vendor and country analysis, followed by the IDC forecast, which examines future shipments and revenues for handhelds and converged devices.

According to Geoff Blaber, senior research analyst, European Mobile Devices, "In 1H06 the mobile devices market grew by a disappointing 10% year on year in response to negative growth for the handheld segment and converged device growth that fell below expectations due to vendor portfolio transitioning, delays in key device roll outs and intensification of competition from the feature phone segment. However, despite anticipation of further sustained declines for the handheld segment, IDC predicts strong growth for converged devices as industry wide moves to embrace the advantages of platformization in tandem with increasing operating system architecture efficiencies and the advent of single chip reference designs enables positioning of lower cost devices in both business and consumer segments".